Ramkalawan v Gill (CS 111/2013) [2015] SCSC 613 (25 November 2015)

Ramkalawan v Gill (CS 111/2013) [2015] SCSC 613 (25 November 2015)

The defendant was found, on the balance of probabilities, to have published defamatory statements on a public blog referring to the plaintiff as a drug trafficker, which were untrue and likely to cause serious harm to the plaintiff's reputation; the defence of lack of publication and fair comment failed as the defendant authored and made the statements public, and the seriousness threshold was met.

Citation
[2015] SCSC 613
Parties
Petitioner: Wavel Ramkalawan; Respondent: Christopher Gill
Court
Supreme Court
Jurisdiction
Seychelles
Judgment Date
25 November 2015
Case Number
CS 111/2013
Procedural Posture
Civil / Judgment
Outcome
judgment for the plaintiff
Legal Topics
Libel, Social Media Publication, Damages, Identification in Defamation, Defences to Defamation
Source Language
English
Defamation Tort Libel Social Media Publication Damages Identification in Defamation Defences to Defamation

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 4 Authorities cited 5 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 1
Sign in to unlock

Parties

Wavel Ramkalawan

Petitioner

Christopher Gill

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Civil / Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the statements published on the blog were defamatory of the plaintiff
  2. 2 Whether the defendant was responsible for the publication of the statements
  3. 3 Whether the statements referred to the plaintiff

Ratio Decidendi

The defendant was found, on the balance of probabilities, to have published defamatory statements on a public blog referring to the plaintiff as a drug trafficker, which were untrue and likely to cause serious harm to the plaintiff's reputation; the defence of lack of publication and fair comment failed as the defendant authored and made the statements public, and the seriousness threshold was met.

Court Disposition

judgment for the plaintiff

Orders

  • The defendant shall pay the plaintiff Rupees Two Hundred Thousand (Rs 200,000) in damages.
  • The defendant shall pay interest on the awarded sum.